Replaceable faucet handle



Aug. 11, 1959 Q SPENCER 2,898,776

REPLACEABLE FAUCET HANDLE Filed April 30, 1957 FIG.

/2 4 6 5 0 i /3Z I 7 4 6 h /5 5 {I Q? 8 [ii "e INVENTOR- REPLACEABLE FAUCET HANDLE Jack 0. Spencer, Big Bear Lake, Calif.

Application April 30, 1957, Serial No. 656,090

2 Claims. (Cl. 74-553) This invention relates to replaceable faucet handles, and is an improvement of the Replacement Handle, Pattent No. 2,469,705, issued May 10, 1949, to Louis J. Vesper.

Included in the objects of this invention are:

First, to provide a replaceable faucet handle which does not grip the fluted end of the conventional faucet stem, which is usually in a badly mutilated condition by the time a replacement faucet handle is needed, but grips the main portion of the stem so that the stem is securely held.

Second, to provide a replaceable faucet handle wherein special clamp jaws are provided, each backed by a rotatable, but permanently attached, set screw, so that the clamp jaws are retained in the handle and cannot be lost while being shipped, displayed, or handled prior to installation.

Third, to provide a replaceable faucet handle wherein the axis of pressure exerted lby the set screws on the clamp jaws is displaced from the center of the clamp jaws toward the faucet end of the stem, so as to concentrate the gripping load in the region most remote from the handle end.

With the above and other objects in View, as may appear hereinafter, reference is directed to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a bottom view of the replaceable faucet handle;

Fig. 2 is a side view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary enlarged sectional view through 33 of Fig. 1, showing the handle secured to the stem of a faucet;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view through 4-4 of Fig. 3, showing the manner in which the jaw members are installed in the socket of the handle body.

The replaceable faucet handle includes a handle body 1 having a cylindrical hub 2 and radiating handle arms 3. The hub 2 projects below the handle arms 3 and is provided with a coaxial rectangular socket 4 extending therein. The inner end 5 of the socket 4 may be square or round, and forms with the outer portion of the socket 4 opposed shoulders 6.

The rectangular socket 4 receives a pair of clamp jaws 7. Each clamp jaw is rectangular in form and has an axial length equal to the rectangular socket 4 so that each clamp jaw 7 bottoms on a shoulder 6. The clamp jaws are received in the ends of the major traverse axis of the socket and are slidable laterally between the remaining sides of the rectangular socket.

The confronting sides of the clamp jaws 7 are provided with recesses formed by a series of steps 8, the corners of which form gripping teeth 9. The proportions of the steps 8 are such that different sets of four teeth 9 define circles of different diameters, depending on the relative positions of the two clamp jaws, so as to grip the sides of a faucet stem A. The clamp jaws are preferably formed of steel and hardened.

A set screw 10 is provided for each clamp jaw. Each 2,898,776 Patented Aug. 11, 1959 set screw is reduced in diameter at one end to form a short stem 11, which is journaled in a counterbored opening extending transversely through the clamp jaw. The extremity of the stem 11 is provided with a head 12 which retains the set screw on its corresponding clamp jaw but permits rotation of the set screw.

The hub 2 is provided near its extremity with screwthreaded bores 13 which receive the set screws 10. The combined dimension of each clamp jaw 7 and its set screw 10 is slightly less than the distance between the other clamp jaw 7 when seated at the end of the socket 4 and the confronting wall of the socket. This permits preassembly of the clamp jaws and the set screws so that each preassembly may be slipped axially into the rectangular socket 4; then 'by backing the set screw outwardly through its corresponding bore 13 the preassembly may be installed in place.

Once installed, the preassemblies are, for all practical purposes, permanently mounted in the handle. This is of considerable practical importance, as no particular care need be exercised to ensure that the clamp jaws 7 remain in place between the time of manufacture and the time of use. That is, the replaceable handle may be handled, shipped, and displayed without danger of loss of the clamp jaws.

It will be observed from inspection of Fig. 3 that the depth of the socket 4, including the inner end 5, is sufficient to receive the fluted end B of a conventional faucet stem and place the clamp jaws 7 opposite the stem toward the root end thereof, that is, toward the faucet. This also is of considerable practical importance, for it should be noted that replaceable faucet handles are utilized after conventional handles have so mutilated the flute end of the faucet stem that they can no longer be installed and depended upon to remain in place. By so locating the clamp jaws 7, they clear the fluted end and bear against the relatively undamaged main portion of the faucet stem; thus a dependable, permanent grip can be obtained.

It will be observed that the axis of the set screws 10 is offset from the center of the jaws 7 by a distance indicated by X in Fig. 3. This offset is in the direction of the extended end of the handle and thus toward the root end of the stem 11, so that the main gripping load is at maximum distance from the extremity of the stem.

While a particular embodiment of this invention has been shown and described, it is not intended to limit the same to the exact details of the construction set forth, and it embraces such changes, modifications, and equivalents of the parts and their formation and arrangement as come within the purview of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A replacement faucet handle for attachment to a valve stem, which stem has a longitudinal axis that is also its axis of rotation, said handle comprising: a handle body having a socket therein, said socket having an axis, said body also having a pair of screw-threaded openings passing through the body, each with an axis, the axes of the openings being coincident with each other and normal to the socket axis; a pair of preassemblies mountable in said socket, each of said preassemblies comprising a jaw and an externally threaded set screw projecting axially from the outer face of said jaw and connected thereto for rotation about the screw axis relative to said jaw but being restrained against axial movement relative to said jaw, each jaw having ridge-like teeth on its inner face which extend parallel to the socket axis, each jaw having a pair of side guide faces adapted to bear against the body for permitting the jaw to move laterally relative to the socket axis while maintaining the teeth parallel thereto, each of said screws being formed for insertion into one of said openings from the inner end thereof for threaded engagement therewith, the outer end of each of said screws being formed for rotatable actuation in its associated opening by a torsion tool inserted into the outer end of such opening to move the 4 tioned in said socket between the inner faces of said jaws.

2. A handle according toclaim 1 in which each jaw is provided with a plurality of teeth arranged stepwise associated jaw nonrotatively transversely of said socket 5 and symmetrically so that the jaws create a symmetrical axis, each of said preassemblies having horizontal dimensions less than the corresponding dimensions of said socket to permit the insertion of one of said assemblies into said socket and the screwing of its set screw into one of said openings, the other of said assemblies having a length axially of its screw less than the width of said socket between said openings less the thickness of the jaw of said one assembly taken axially of its screw to permit the insertion of said other assembly into the socket and the screwing of its set screw into the other of said openings, whereby said jaws may be moved into and out of gripping engagement with a valve stem posienclosure for receiving the stern.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 674,246 Montgomery May 14, 1901 1,174,858 Hamilton Mar. 7, 1916 1,878,569 Zolleis Sept. 20, 1932 2,283,514 Stanworth May 19, 1942 2,469,705 Vesper May 10, 1949 2,622,120 Knasko et al. Dec. 16, 1952 nlflulfnnrnl UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFIQATE 0F QORECTIUN Patent No 2,898,776 August ll, 1959 Jack 00 Spencer It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should readas corrected below.

Column 1 line 61, for "traverse read transverse column 2, line 44 after is at insert a e Signed and sealed this 29th day of March 1960 (SEAL) Attest:

KARL H" AXLINE ROBERT C. WATSON Attestzing Officcr Commissioner of Patents 

